Real time data means more time at the face.

Real time data means more time at the face.

Sudbury rolls with the pandemic punches

Image of a group of Norcat employees in an underground mine tunnel looking at Maestro's Vigilante Air Quality Station.

For Lively, Ont.-based Maestro Digital Mines, the situation has been reversed: the disruption of the pandemic has forced its clients to adopt digital communication technology they were previously reluctant to use.

The company, which makes environmental sensors and easy-to-install hardware that allows digital communications at the mine face, has long used such digital communication technologies internally. “We were well engaged with all these tools, but our clients weren’t – they didn’t appreciate that type of engagement,” says Maestro’s vice-president of marketing and sales, Michael Gribbons. Now, the company’s clients have come around. In fact, Maestro just had its best year yet in terms of sales and profits. 

That said, it’s been tough to build new relationships in parts of the world such as Latin America, where a personal touch and face-to-face meetings are part of the cultural expectations. But the positives for the company, which is celebrating 10 years in business this year, have so far outweighed the negatives. Working from home has made the entire Maestro team more productive, Gribbons says, including some members who had previously spent half their time on the road. “We’re not going back to the old ways so easily.”

Canadian Mining Journal March Issue 2021 by CMJ Editor Alisha Hiyate

Read the complete article, click here.

 

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Maestro's IIoT solutions now integrate into Ventsim CONTROL

Image of the Maestro Digital Mines logo and Howden logo.

Press Release

Sudbury, ON. Canada – April 13, 2021 Maestro Digital Mine is pleased to announce that their ventilation IIoT solutions have been successfully integrated into Howden's Ventsim CONTROL Ventilation Optimization software, thus strengthening Maestro's mine ventilation solutions for customers around the world. Ventsim CONTROL can remotely monitor, control, and automate in real-time the total underground mine ventilation from the surface. Combined with Maestro's Vigilante AQS™ & Zephyr AQS™ air quality monitoring stations and using MaestroFlex™ automated regulators, Ventsim CONTROL can be easily configured to manage the ventilation by reducing the complexity and integration time of any project.
 
Ventsim CONTROL uses real-time data to continuously optimize and redirect airflow for peak efficiency and safety in all activity levels and headings in your mine as production priorities shift. Ventsim CONTROL communicates with all hardware and instrumentation mine infrastructure.
 
“Expanding Ventsim Control’s capabilities to incorporate Maestro’s advanced solutions and plug and play ventilation devices is an exciting and logical next step. The integration will now make it easier than ever for mines to enjoy the safety and security of mine-wide atmospheric monitoring, together with advanced and intelligent ventilation automation to improve safety and productivity and reduce costs. Maestro's core values align with Howden’s in striving for excellence in safety, productivity, and service for our customers,” says Howden’s Craig Stewart – Ventsim Founder.
 

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Maestro developed in partnership with the mining industry an essential and life saving digital technology, the Vigilante AQS™ air quality station, to measure environmental conditions in real-time for worker health and safety and to reduce the total installed infrastructure costs. With the success of the Vigilante AQS™, Maestro went on to develop the Zephyr AQS™ is a low-cost air quality monitoring station for underground mines that now completes internally with the gold standard – Vigilante AQS™ air quality station.
 

To date, Maestro has thousands of Vigilantes AQS™, hundreds of Zephyrs AQS™ and MaestroFlex™ automated regulators in underground mines and many that are utilizing the Plexus PowerNet™ last mile communication network.  MaestroLinkServer software manages the IIoT devices in the field using advanced edge based diagnostic data thereby reducing on-going calibration and maintenance OPEX. All of Maestro's products are fully digital and have significant information in the form of status bits to determine the health of the sensors and the complete systems. VentSim CONTROL can continue to enhance the customer experience to automate and optimize their mining ventilation to improve mine production, worker safety and significantly reduce a mine's overall energy consumption.
 

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Michael Gribbons, CEO, President and Co-founder, Maestro Digital Mine, stated that, "Maestro is known for its Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) devices used for ventilation monitoring and controls as well as last mile digital networks for the underground mining sector.  These proven solutions installed globally in 35 countries provide safety to the workers, productivity improvements to operators and significant CAPEX and OPEX savings to the project group.  Integrating our ventilation solutions into Ventsim CONTROL is one more way we can create a seamless user interface for customers".
 

About Maestro Digital Mine
Maestro Digital Mine manufactures Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) measurement and control instrumentation for the optimization of underground mine ventilation and underground digital networks for last mile of communication. Our products are made exclusively for the underground mine automation, IT/OT and ventilation sectors that delivers energy savings and productivity improvements while meeting the highest health and safety standards. www.maestrodigitalmine.com
 
About Howden
For more than a century, Howden has supplied ventilation fans and equipment to every major mining company in the world. Today, Howden's Total Mine Ventilation Solutions (TMVS) is a fully integrated approach to mine ventilation and air quality control. By reducing blast-clearing downtime, Howden can improve production rates by up to 70%. Howden is able to provide all necessary equipment, services, and Ventsim solutions mine sites require in a fully customizable and integrated product offering: Main and Auxiliary Fans, Mine Heaters, Mine Cooling, Ventilation Optimization, and Turnkey solutions. https://www.howden.com/en-gb/products/other-products/ventsim-control 

Maestro Digital Mine Contact:
Nataly Arguello
International Business Development and Marketing
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
705-805-6918 x 218

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Media Coverage: 

 

Maestro's IIoT solutions now integrate into Howden's Ventsim CONTROL ventilation optimisation software
International Mining

Maestro’s ventilation IIoT solutions it says have been successfully integrated into Howden’s Ventsim CONTROL ventilation optimisation software, thus strengthening Maestro’s mine ventilation solutions for customers around the world. Ventsim CONTROL can remotely monitor, control, and automate in real-time the total underground mine ventilation from the surface. Combined with Maestro’s Vigilante AQS™ & Zephyr AQS™ air quality monitoring stations and using MaestroFlex™ automated regulators, Ventsim CONTROL can be easily configured to manage the ventilation by reducing the complexity and integration time of any project.  Read more here.

 

Maestro’s IIoT solutions now integrate into Ventsim CONTROL
Mine Connect

Maestro Digital Mine is pleased to announce that their ventilation IIoT solutions have been successfully integrated into Howden’s Ventsim CONTROL Ventilation Optimization software, thus strengthening Maestro’s mine ventilation solutions for customers around the world. Ventsim CONTROL can remotely monitor, control, and automate in real-time the total underground mine ventilation from the surface. Combined with Maestro’s Vigilante AQS™ & Zephyr AQS™ air quality monitoring stations and using MaestroFlex™ automated regulators, Ventsim CONTROL can be easily configured to manage the ventilation by reducing the complexity and integration time of any project.  Read more here.

 

Maestro integrates with Howden Ventsim software
Mining Magazine

Maestro CEO, president and co-founder Michael Gribbons said that combining its Vigilante AQS and Zephyr AQS air quality monitoring stations along with MaestroFlex automated regulators within Ventsim, that system can easily be configured to manage ventilation rates by reducing any project's complexity and integration time.

Howden's Craig Stewart, who is the founder of Ventsim, and Gribbons explained that Ventsim Control continuously optimises and redirects airflow in any application using real-time data, providing peak efficiency and safety in all activity levels at all mine's headings - even if production priorities change.  Read more here.

 

Maestro IIoT solutions now integrate into Ventsim Control
Canadian Mining Journal

Maestro Digital Mine has announced that its ventilation IIoT (industrial internet-of-things) solutions have been successfully integrated into Howden’s Ventsim Control Ventilation Optimization software, strengthening Maestro’s mine ventilation solutions for customers worldwide.

Ventsim Control can remotely monitor, control, and automate in real-time underground mine ventilation from the surface. Combined with Maestro’s Vigilante AQS and Zephyr AQS air quality monitoring stations, using MaestroFlex automated regulators, Ventsim Control can be easily configured to manage ventilation by reducing the complexity and integration time of any project.  Read more here.

 

Maestro Digital Mine integrates IIoT solutions into Howden software
Global Mining Review

Maestro Digital Mine has announced that their ventilation Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) solutions have been successfully integrated into Howden's Ventsim CONTROL ventilation optimisation software, thus strengthening Maestro's mine ventilation solutions for customers around the world. Ventsim CONTROL can remotely monitor, control, and automate in real-time the total underground mine ventilation from the surface. Combined with Maestro's Vigilante AQSTM and Zephyr AQSTM air quality monitoring stations and using MaestroFlexTM automated regulators, Ventsim CONTROL can be easily configured to manage the ventilation by reducing the complexity and integration time of any project.  Read more here.

 

Maestro Digital Mine strengthens mine ventilation solutions
Northern Ontario Business

It is a pleasure to announce that Maestro’s ventilation IIoT solutions have been successfully integrated into Howden's Ventsim CONTROL Ventilation Optimization software, thus strengthening Maestro's mine ventilation solutions for customers around the world.

Ventsim CONTROL can remotely monitor, control, and automate in real-time the total underground mine ventilation from the surface. Combined with Maestro's Vigilante AQS™ & Zephyr AQS™ air quality monitoring stations and using MaestroFlex™ automated regulators, Ventsim CONTROL can be easily configured to manage the ventilation by reducing the complexity and integration time of any project.  Read more here.

 

Maestro Digital Mine strengthens mine ventilation solutions
Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal

SUDBURY, ON – April 14, 2021: It is a pleasure to announce that Maestro’s ventilation IIoT solutions have been successfully integrated into Howden's Ventsim CONTROL Ventilation Optimization software, thus strengthening Maestro's mine ventilation solutions for customers around the world.

Ventsim CONTROL can remotely monitor, control, and automate in real-time the total underground mine ventilation from the surface. Combined with Maestro's Vigilante AQS™ & Zephyr AQS™ air quality monitoring stations and using MaestroFlex™ automated regulators, Ventsim CONTROL can be easily configured to manage the ventilation by reducing the complexity and integration time of any project.  Read more here.

 

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Change Your Mind, Change Your Mine

Main image for the article AIRTEC S.A: “PLEXUS POWERNET – ENABLING THE INTELLIGENT MINE”

Jesse Morton, Technical Writer for the Engineering and Mining Journal, talks about how advanced networks and communications solutions are gaining acceptance incrementally as knowledge of the numerous benefits grows on this featured article for its March 2021 issue.


Maestro’s first air quality station, the Vigilante AQS, was developed to capture an array of conditions in deeper mines, Maestro said. “Its objective is to monitor environmental conditions in real time for worker safety and health,” said Shannon Katary, director of marketing and communications, Maestro.

“It had been so successful at being embedded in mines on many levels across the world that we realized we had to create a lower-cost version, the Zephyr AQS,” she said. “It is just a slightly lower-cost version, which has about 75% of what the gold standards are for measuring, and it has led to uniting the industry on what it takes to monitor and control ventilation.”

A partnership with Maestro Digital Mine positioned Matrix to offer the MaestroLink Server, Plexus PowerNet and two air quality station solutions.

Plexus PowerNet extends an existing network to the furthest working area and can support the air quality stations there. “Plexus is usually an added-on solution and integrates into mine-wide networks,” said Cindy Chesney, director, global partnerships, Maestro.

“Plexus is agnostic, so it can attach and be affiliated with any underground networks,” she said. “The one extreme benefit is power and data over a single coax cable.”

MaestroLink Server is a software platform that allows the assimilation of the data coming in from the working areas.

Coats said the new network and communications solutions at the limestone mine quickly yielded dividends. “They started saving about an hour and a half per vehicle breakdown,” he said. “That was one of the first things that they noticed.”

Combined, the solutions result in increased production and safety. It is a future available to many mines, so long as they have the vision and can handle the changes, he said.

Click here for the full article on the Engineering and Mining Journal website. (Page 40).

  

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Ten Northern Ontario Mining Supply and Service Companies Selected to Set Up Shop in Elko, Nevada

Main image for the article

Maestro has been selected as one of the successful companies to begin onboarding at a new storefront in Elko, Nevada in September of 2021. This initiative led by MineConnect will allow the Northern Ontario region’s mining supply and service companies to establish a local presence in Nevada with very little financial risk.


“The Nevada Mining Industry has struggled for years to fill various gaps within its supply chain; we are thrilled to have top tier companies from a world class mining district establishing their US based operations right here locally where they can provide goods and services that have traditionally been difficult to procure,” added Sheldon Mudd, executive director of NNRDA. “We anticipate multiple benefits arising from this initiative. First, the Nevada Mining industry will be able to source goods and services from local suppliers rather than global providers who often do not have the United States best interest in mind. Next, it will create jobs and generate new tax revenue ensuring that more of our mining dollars remain in the Northeastern Nevada economic eco-system. “

The initiative comes under the auspices of Ontario’s North Economic Development Corporation (ONEDC), with funding support from FedNor and the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation (NOHFC).

The intent of the project, is for participating companies to take advantage of the benefits available through the incubator to then venture off on their own, allowing another stream of companies to be onboarded. The program, which is being undertaken in partnership with the Ministry of Energy, Northern Development and Mines Trade and Investment Unit, will support upwards of thirty companies over the course of the project.

Click here for the Press Release on the MineConnect website.

  

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Up in the Air

Image of Automated Door Regulators

DANIEL GLEESON FROM INTERNATIONAL MINING MAGAZINE DISCOVERS HOW THE INTEGRATION OF HARDWARE, SOFTWARE AND COMMUNICATION NETWORKS WILL PROVIDE THE BIG WINS AT UNDERGROUND MINES WHEN IT COMES TO MINE VENTILATION IN THIS FEATURED VENTILATION ARTICLE FROM THE JULY 2021 ISSUE.


By providing smart IIoT devices that can be integrated with any third-party platform, Maestro Digital Mine has made the difficult task of optimally ventilating underground mines that much easier.

MaestroFlex™ Automated Regulators allow surface-based control room operators the ability to control ventilation through manual, event-based, time-based or full ventilation on demand (VoD) functions, according to Maestro. They, like all of Maestro’s products, have been designed to withstand the realities of underground mining.

When equipped with ModuDrive™ digital IIoT actuators, the regulators can also provide real-time diagnostics that allow troubleshooting from surface through Maestro’s networked-based software platform, MaestroLink™ Server.

The introduction of this regulator design drives out significant capital expenditure underground by eliminating expensive PLCs, transformers, engineering services and panel fabricators, according to the company. The IIoT actuators require less current and, as a result, eliminate the requirement of a transformer. These elements lead to capital expenditure savings of some 40-70% over the incumbent technology, according to Gribbons.

The combination of the regulators and actuators also have a role to play in the mining sector’s evolving ESG needs.

“If you take a look at institutional investor demands when it comes to ESG, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are front and centre,” Gribbons said. “Investors and consumers are demanding that mining must be sustainable. Controlling ventilation optimally means GHG reductions and a smaller carbon footprint. The main concern from the mining industry revolves around carbon reduction.” .

Read the complete article here (page 10).

Read the PDF here.

  

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